Manning to the Broncos, Tebow to the Jets…

Image from: Business Insider On Tuesday, March 20th, Peyton Manning agreed to a five-year, $96 million contract with the Denver Broncos. On Wednesday, March 21st, Tim Tebow was traded to the Jets and Tebow signed a five-year, $11.25 million contract with the Jets. Manning clearly drew way more money, $80 million more! From memory, he also drew more TV coverage. My question, which move drew more online attention?? According to

On Tuesday, March 20th, Peyton Manning agreed to a five-year, $96 million contract with the Denver Broncos.

On Wednesday, March 21st, Tim Tebow was traded to the Jets and Tebow signed a five-year, $11.25 million contract with the Jets.

Manning clearly drew way more money, $80 million more! From memory, he also drew more TV coverage. My question, which move drew more online attention??

According to data from Compete, it is probably closer than you think, demonstrating that Tebow carries a lot of weight online, despite the fact that he should never be mentioned in the same breath as Peyton Manning when it comes to his accomplishments on the football field. Daily Reach (a metric measuring daily site visitors) to each of the respective NFL team websites was flat leading up to the days before the trade. Looking at the graph below, you can see the Bronco’s experienced a larger lift in Daily Reach the day before and day of the move, but the Jet’s aren’t far behind, especially just when looking at the increase on the day the deals were inked.

In a keyword showdown over the past 90 days, Tebow proves to have a larger overall fingerprint, with the exact match keyword, Tim Tebow, driving traffic to 469 websites. Exact Match, Peyton Manning, only driving traffic to 22 sites.

What about search referral traffic to sports websites? Manning has an edge, but it isn’t 9 times.

Personally, I paid more attention to Manning, because I look at this through the lens of football fan. According to Compete data, I am in the majority but not by as much as I thought and although Manning drove more interest among football fans, Tebow clearly has captured the attention of a broader audience.

What will that mean for the Jets, now that Tebow is in NY? What will that mean for Tebow, now that he will be under the bright lights of NYC?

About Matt Cordaro:At Compete, Matt Cordaro is a Compete PRO Enterprise Account Manager. Matt is responsible for helping customers solve online marketing problems. Before Matt joined the Compete Team he managed strategic sales partnerships. His career aspiration is to WOW each customer he interacts with. Follow him on Twitter @Matt_Cordaro or connect with him on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/edit?id=436617&trk=tab_pro